Collectors of plates and other like objects find it to be desirable to display the plates in what is a substantially vertical attitude so that ornamentation and design of a plate may be viewed on a substantially horizontal sightline. In order to hold a plate in a substantially vertical attitude, it is necessary to hold the rim of the plate at a lower position and then provide support to a base of the plate toward the middle or above the middle of the plate. In certain instances, special cupboards are built wherein a shelf of the cupboard contains a groove adjacent to a wall of the cupboard so that a plate rim may be placed in the groove and the base of the plate is positioned against the wall to hold the plate substantially vertical. In certain instances, it is desirable to provide a plate holder which is portable so that the plate holder is an integral unit which supports the plate and may be positioned on a shelf which does not have a groove, or the plate holder is free standing on a sideboard or buffet. Devices of this general type are well-known and a popular type of device is a wooden plate holder. The wooden plate holders are usually large in order to have sufficient bulk to make them resistant to fractures and these plate holders are sufficiently large so that they distract from the plate. Smaller or compact plate holders may be made of metal or plastic, but these plate holders are expensive to manufacture and in certain instances difficult to handle.